Cable & Wireless close to buying Colt Telecom

But both keeping schtum

Cable & Wireless is very close to buying Colt Telecom if a report in Belgian newspaper Financieel-Economische Tijd is to be believed.

According to the paper, quoting a source close to the talks, both companies are coming to the end of negotiations and a deal could be announced within six weeks. It does warn that the deal could still fall apart however.

Cable & Wireless has put out its usual line that "we never comment on rumours and speculations". A spokesman also accepted that a reported £4 billion the company holds in cash makes it a suspect in any takeover talks: "Given the cash position we have, whenever there's a story out there, it's always easy to put C&W on the hat," he told AFX News.

Cable & Wireless makes no bones about the fact that it is looking at acquisition targets. Those said to be in talks include Exodus, Level 3 and Global TeleSystems.

C&W's share price is currently up 4.3 per cent and Colt's is up 5.6 per cent. ®